| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| THE SELF AND THE NON-SELF |
| Faith in the power of the Supreme Self 20. No true safety is possible so long as there is attachment to the body and consequent fear. There is only a sense of insecurity. When one shuts one's eyes there i a fear that a snake might bite one or robbers might attack. One sleeps with a stick by one's side. If you ask why, you are told, "It is good to have it there, a thief might turn up." My dear man, what if the thief take up that stick and hits you on your head? It is as if you are keeping a stick ready in case the thief forgets to bring one. What gives you the courage to go to sleep? At this moment you are in the hands of the world. It is only when you are awake that you can protect yourself. Who guards you when you sleep? 21. I go to sleep trusting to some power. I sleep trusting to the same power that protects the tiger and the cow when they sleep. Even the tiger goes to sleep. Even the tiger, which being at enmity with the world is constantly looking back, goes to sleep. If it had no faith in that power, it would be necessary to make an arrangement for some tigers to keep watch while others sleep. The power trusting to which the lion and the tiger and the wolf go to sleep, that power pervades all creation, an in its lap, I too am asleep. The child sleeps, free from care, on his mother's lap. He is then the emperor of the world. You and I should train ourselves to sleep in the lap on the universal mother in love and trust and knowledge. I should become better acquainted with the power by which all my life proceeds. I should understand it more and more clearly. The more I trust to it, the more secure I will be. The more I experience this power, the more I grow. In the Thirteenth Chapter, something is shown of the steps of this progress. |
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